Selective Remembrances: Archaeology in the Construction, Commemoration, and Consecration of National Pasts by Philip L. Kohl, Mara Kozelsky and Nachman Ben‐Yehuda (eds.)

Abstract

The Writing the Nation Series sets the path but should not be an end in itself. The construction of a nation's history is a vast, almost never-ending field of study. It is a superb work and a valuable contribution to the European historiography and comparative history writing. One of the main tasks of historiography is to write critical analysis and to deconstruct national traditions. It is essentially an epistemological work being done as self-reflexive as possible. No doubt all the authors who took part in this project, contributed enormously to the debate about the historiography of their own nation. However, one should not take this book as the final word on the subject but rather as a contribution to an ongoing debate.